ten most beautiful things about: olive, the cat

Quirky, gorgeous, vocal, affectionate and plays rough, that’s my Olive! Only she isn’t my Olive. I’ve been falling more and more in love with her and learning her grooves and the meaning of her tone (like that urgent yowling I get in the early evening when she wants wet food vs. the inquisitive short little question mew I get when she wants to know whether it’s play time or lap time) but she’s not my Olive. I’ve finally learned that a little ball of tin foil is much preferred over the organic cotton catnip mouse or the felt ball with bells but she isn’t my Olive. You see, the shelter made a little mistake three months ago when letting me take her home instead of giving her back to her original guardian, so now it’s time to give Olive back to the man who has loved her for years. So, though my only previous post on Olive was one aimed at shedding light on the ways in which Olive gently terrorizes me and my sleep at times, this one is the ten things I love best and will miss most about Olive.

1. Chatty Kathy
This girl is a talker! Morning, noon and night she chatters, yells or chirps away announcing her entrance, requesting permission to land or simply giving fair warning that things are about to get ugly if her favorite food is not in that dish in 30 seconds. Seriously.

2. Smarty-pants
Okay, this cat is abnormally smart, even for a cat. She knows exactly what I mean by “no” and “stay” when I’m about to open the front door and responds to a very civil “down” when on the dresser or table. She also plays fetch like a dog. I should’ve known I was in trouble when she escaped her cardboard carrying case on our first ride home from the shelter!

3. Risky Business Tycoon
The first thing Olive did when I brought her home is get as high as she could, walking up above my kitchen cupboards. And last week she jumped up on the 1/2 inch balcony ledge from the floor with perfect calm.

4. Mink Coat Showoff
This girl has the silkiest softest fur on the cat planet, like a sable (and the color of one, too). You can’t not pet her every chance you get.

5. Shoulder Percher
Every night when I get home from work, she is immediately at the door rolling around and stretching then as soon as I bend down, she is on hind legs reaching for her favorite spot – hugging my neck perched have on my shoulder, half on my chest purring away and kissing and nuzzling my cheeks.

6. Knee Sleeper
Olive, though contradictory to some of the late-night cat attacks I’ve experienced when she’s upset or hungry, is a very sound sleeper. She sleeps, as Jenny’s Gloria does, tucked up in my knees. We’re both side-sleepers.

7. Seaside Eye Flutterer
Olive has the most amazing aquamarine eyes you’ll ever see. I’ve read it’s the breed (she’s a Tonkinese) and they are the only ones who have them, but whatever it is, she’s a princess through and through.

9. Sink-a-holic
Olive drinks out of the bathroom sink. That’s it. Not the kitchen sink, not her bowl, not the toilet. Just the bathroom sink faucet on a slow drizzle.

10. Late Riser
Granted, once in a while (often when she first arrived) Olive gets up at that weird 4 am time slot and wrecks havoc on my dreams. But usually, when I wake up in the morning, she is still asleep in that ball behind my knees. I stir (an unusually late-riser for a corporate girl), she stirs. I stretch, she stretches. Then I give a soft little drawn-out, “Oooooliiiiive” and she makes her way to that little nook in between my neck and shoulder for a little snooz-cuddle-snooz-we don’t really need a shower-snooz time before we start our days.

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